Re: Washington Updates from National Vice President Bill Burrus - February 18, 2000 Enclosed you will find the latest updates from National Executive Vice President APWU, Bill Burrus. This was released on Friday, February 18, 2000. The update is as follows: Email UPDATE Bill Burrus Executive Vice President PAY SCALE Discussions continue on the slotting of employees from Steps B and C into the new pay scale. In earlier discussions, managements response was that the unions recommended adjustment would be agreed to and implemented in March or April of this year. Recent discussions have not been as promising even though the issue has not been closed. The retroactive adjustments could not be made until the spring even if agreement had been reached so the delay is not a negative at this point. I shall continue to pursue this issue until the adjustment is made. MAIL PROCESSOR UPDATE The scheduled date for return to arbitrator Mittenthal for a clarification of his Fargo decision is April 28th. It is anticipated that upon receipt of the Mittenthal clarification joint instructions will be issued to the field for application. CASUALS Discussions on the future use of casuals were in their final stages with an agreement in its final drafting stage when the District Labor officials impressed upon postal headquarters officials that a recent arbitration decision by arbitrator Zumas provided them with an opening to argue that the contract does not provide for violations beyond the numerical caps. That the union is precluded from asserting that casuals are used in lieu of career employees. Headquarters management has provided their written position to the union at the national level and the union is initiating a national level grievance to resolve this issue. Management has issued instructions that all locally filed grievance alleging "casuals in lieu of" be held pending final resolution of the national issue. The union is processing a national level grievance and every effort will be made to provide a early date for hearing. When a date is established, an announcement will be made. PRIORITY MAIL Since the issuance of the last report there have been no further discussions regarding the establishment of a postal PMPC network. The postal executive committee will make the final decision on whether or not to establish a postal PMPC network. If the decision is to establish a postal network, the parties will finalize an agreement governing the application of the national agreement. Until we reach that point, no final decisions have been made on modifications to the contract. The union's objective is to return the work with maximum coverage of the existing contractual provisions. Phoenix, Az is proceeding with construction for a PMPC site but it is not known at this point if it will be a part of a national network or a pilot site. Activity at the Dulles, Va site has not been established as a part of a pilot or a network so a meeting has been requested to discuss the activities at this facility. TRANSFER OF DATA CONVERSION FROM REC SITES TO PLANTS The clerk craft national officers are engaged in discussions with postal management on the establishment of DCOs in mail processing plants to perform REC functions. Written notice has been provided over the signature of president Biller to postal management that the union does not interpret the REC agreements as applying to in house plant operations. TRANSFER MEMORANDUM Work is continuing on the creation of an APWU computer program to identify employees and the offices where they wish to transfer. The 1998 national agreement included agreement that prior to hiring career employees, management will refer to the union provided listing. It is expected that the process will be finalized within the next 30 days and employees solicited to notify the union of their choices for transfer. NBA COMMITTEE The national committee approved by the 1998 national convention to review the union's field operation and provide a report to the 2000 national convention has completed its report that will be mailed to the state presidents for discussion in state conventions. State presidents should notify the union's national order department and place orders for the number of copies of the report needed for distribution at their conventions. The telephone number of the order department is 202-842-4207 providing the name and address where the report should be mailed and the number of copies requested. EFFECTIVE DATE OF CONTRACT ARBITRATION DECISION Discussions continue on the implementation of the national decision decided in the unions favor that employees hired prior to July 12, 1991 could not be placed in the new entry steps established by the arbitrator. The affected employees have been identified and the listing published in the News Service Bulletin. The deadline for the submission of additional names was February 12th however any employee who believes he/she was affected but not identified should contact my office immediately for inclusion in the final settlement. The implementation agreement will not apply to pending grievances alleging the mis payment of higher level pay. Those employees who were promoted improperly will receive full back pay for all hours worked, including higher level at the improper step and their step will be adjusted for future earnings. Employees who were not promoted and grieved improper higher level pay only will be instructed to apply the national decision and settlement to their grievance at the level where the grievance was held pending resolution of the national case. In addition, employees who worked higher level and were paid improperly but did not grieve will have an opportunity to initiate a local grievance and apply the national decision. The normal rule for higher level pay, if applied properly would have appropriately compensated employees is to compensate the employee at the higher grade in the same step that they occupy. Example: A grade 5 Step B employee works higher level at grade 6. The normal rule compensates this employee at grade 6, Step B. An improper application that would be covered by this decision would be to compensate this employee at grade 6, Step A in that Step A was a new step added in 1991 to apply only to employees hired after July 12, 1991. AUTOMATIC PAYMENT FOR HIGHER LEVEL WORK A national level grievance was filed contesting the postal pay system that does not automatically compensate employees for higher level work including the promotion pay anomaly. The grievance is pending arbitration however management has expressed interest in resolving the issue. The union is insisting that either the payroll system be modified that the employee will automatically be compensated or that a form 2240 by automatically provided the employee that he/she can apply for payment. The results of these discussions will be announced as we proceed. ANNUAL LEAVE EXCHANGE A national level grievance has been filed and appealed to arbitration on the refusal to permit PTFs to sell back annual leave. A Step 4 meeting was held but due to the delay in receiving a written response, the case has been appealed to arbitration. I await the step 4 written decision that is not anticipated to resolve the issue. I am requesting that each eligible PTF be compensated for 80 hours of annual leave without a corresponding reduction of leave. FMLA Written confirmation has been received from postal management that employees are not required to re certify serious health conditions each calendar year. The change from one calendar year to another has no bearing on an employees obligation to re certify Confirmation has also been received that the parties agree that an employees failure to having worked 1250 hours in 1999 has no bearing on the employees eligibility for FMLA in year 2000. The regulations require that the employee have worked 1250 hours in the 365 days preceding the date of absence. The issue of an employee being required to re qualify for each absence involving a chronic or intermittent condition has not been resolved between the Department of Labor, the Postal Service and the union. Management in some facilities continue to demand certification for each absence pursuant to an interpretation by USPS attorneys. Several court cases have rejected managements position on this issue but to date the Postal Service has not changed its position. Employees required to re certify should initiate grievances requesting compensation for time and expenses incurred in obtaining re certification. The court decisions deciding this issue are available from my office upon request. LOCAL EMERGENCY CONDITIONS A national grievance has been filed contesting the right of postal management to require employees to work when local, state or national government officials issue orders that employees are to refrain from driving. The union has taken the position that employees have an obligation to comply with orders of government officials and cannot be subjected to postal management counter orders. This grievance has no bearing on whether or not employees are entitled to administrative leave but that there absence will be approved when following instructions of local officials. ORGAN DONATIONS President Clinton signed into law provisions that federal employees will be afforded 30 days of paid leave for participating in the organ donation program. I have made a written request to the postmaster general that the Postal Service voluntarily comply with the federal procedures. I have received a written response that the Postal Service will not voluntarily comply with the federal standard. In that the Postal Service would not experience more than three or four circumstances each year when employees choose to donate organs one would think that the cost would be so minimal that they would voluntarily comply. Another example of how generous postal management is and one can only imagine the wages and working conditions if not for collective bargaining. SUBCONTRACTING A national level grievance has been filed contesting the awarding of a national contract to modify the BMCs. The 1998 national agreement includes a moratorium on national contracts to May, 2000. The grievance has been appealed to arbitration even though I await a step 4 written response to the discussion held in December, 1999. Yours in Union Solidarity, Bobby Donelson National Representative at Large, Maintenance Division American Postal Workers Union, AFL-CIO 1300 "L" Street, N.W. Washington, DC 20005 202 842-4213